In Which Hunk Notices
by Strix Moonwing
Summary: Hunk notices some changes between his best friend Lance and his teammate Keith after all the Paladins are reunited once more after the dreaded Wormhole incident. The two are closer than before, but the more the Yellow Paladin sees and listens to, the more his gut instinct warns him that whatever brought Keith and Lance to bond may not be entirely good for the Voltron team...
1. The Retelling

Hunk, the Yellow Paladin of Voltron, was talented in many ways.

He was an excellent cook by almost all standards as all of his teammate would whole-hearted agree. Hunk could also proudly say that he was a talented and inventive engineer with the ability to fix almost anything if he put his mind to it. And though he knew he would never hold a candle to that of Keith or even Lance, he was a notable pilot in his own right when the situation called. But there was one aspect of himself that Hunk held in very high esteem above all else.

His gut instinct.

Oh Lance and the rest may jest at times, but Hunk knew this gut instincts of a situation were almost never wrong. His gut knew when something was wrong in a situation and Hunk would almost always regret it when he (or his friends) chose to ignore all the warning signs.

For instance, his gut had told him that it would be horrendous idea to follow Lance and Pidge away from the Garrison to follow a crashed alien aircraft in the middle of the desert. But nooo, his friends had to still drag him out there and now they're all stuck in space forced to fight a galactic, centuries-old war for the universe.

Point one for Hunk's gut.

He also knew that those space thieves had been untrustworthy from the very spot. But again, no one had believed him until his best friend's lion had gotten stolen.

Another point for Hunk's gut.

So yes, maybe Lance had the sharpest eye of the bunch, maybe Pidge had the most intellect, Keith had the most fighting skills, and Shiro was the cool leader, but Hunk could feel when something was amiss, when something felt off. Hunk was proud of this.

And right now, Hunk's gut was telling him that something weird was going on between his two friends, Keith and Lance, the Red and Blue Paladins of Voltron.

Hunk started to first notice it the night everyone reunited after the wormhole incident.

After weeks, maybe months of being isolated from one another in the vast depths of space, the reunion between Hunk, his fellow paladins, Princess Allura, and Coran was a memory that Hunk knew he'd remember with only the greatest happiness for the rest of his days. There was laughter, a lot of tears, and even a couple of kisses (Allura gave all of them a peck on the cheek and Pidge received a giant smooch on the cheek from an overjoyed Lanced. She continues to deny liking it, though the blush that always appears when it is mentioned tells a different story).

And then there are hugs…so many hugs.

For a long time it was impossible for any of them to not reach out and touch one another in some manner whether it was a hug, a playful ruffle of the hair, a warm hand on the shoulder. All of them missed each other for more than any of them had ever realized possible. Allura told them that it was part of the ancient bond of those with ability to form Voltron all share, but Hunk knew it was something far more simple. He knew that in the time they've all spent together, after all the experiences they endured as team, it was impossible them not to start regarding each other as more than friends.

They were a family.

And now they were back together once more.

After all the tears and hugs were exchanged, the stories began. All of Paladins, as well as the princess and Coran, had their adventures to share of their time alone. Hunk remembered that nobody had slept at all that night, but sat together in the common room, listening with rapt attention as each one took their turn to relate what happened after the being separated in the wormhole.

Each story was exciting, but Lance and Keith's stories were a little different from the rest of the team's. Lance and Keith had actually been able to find each other earlier on than the rest of the team had. Hunk, and he was sure the rest of team, did notice that the two rivals were definitely seemed a lot more comfortable with one another. Even before they started to speak about their adventures in space, the two had been seated side by side on the couch the entire night, shoulders always brushing.

When it was their time to speak, Keith and Lance took turns, switching during different parts of the narrative, or whenever the other was missing a detail or, in Lance's case, over-exaggerating certain parts. To everyone's surprise, though there light bickering and teasing insults exchanged, neither seriously argued with each other the entire time.

Hunk did not find it too strange. After all, everyone was in too good of mood to even think about starting any fights. Plus it was a relief to finally see two of his friends getting along so well.

However, when Keith and Lance's story took a dark, unsettling turn, Hunk began to notice something not quite right.

Apparently at one point in their adventure, Keith and the Red Lion had been abducted by the Galra but not just any Galra…

"Prince…Lotor?" Allura gasped, her blue eyes stretched out wide. Her voice shook as she exclaimed, "Zarkon has a son?!"

The news was very distressing for them all. A royal son meant even more powerful enemies for them to face in the future.

Lance nodded, grimly. "Yep, nasty little, bloodthirty slimeball too. And don't get me started on his hair." He playfully elbowed Keith, grinning. "Puts this mullet-head to shame."

Keith rolled his eyes at his companion, but Hunk saw the corners of his lips twitch.

Coran stroked his mustache thoughtfully as he tutted, "Very unsettling news, but I guess it's not unexpected. It has been ten thousands year after all. He might even have an entire army of little princes and princesses for all we know."

"Ew." Pidge deadpanned. "Thanks for that mental image."

Hunk grimaced. "I think one Zarkon is enough. Two's just pushing it!'

"Enough, guys," Shiro said. He leaned in closer from his spot on the couch, his dark gaze focused on Lance. "Tell us what happened and everything you can about this Prince Lotor. I have a feeling we're not going to see the last of him."

So Lance continued, saying how the reason Prince Lotor had specifically targeted Keith was because originally Zarkon had planned to make his son the pilot of the Red Lion. When Keith had stolen the Red Lion from the Galra ship back at the very beginning of their adventures, Prince Lotor had taken it as a personal insult since the ship had been delivering the lion to the Prince at the time.

Lance recalled with great flair how he had snuck onto the warship to try and rescue Keith. Hunk noticed that by this point Keith had stopped talking altogether, allowing Lance to take full control of the story. The content smile that had once been on the Red Paladin's face had dissolved into a deep frown. Keith looked uncomfortable, his eyes darting nervously between Lance and the rest of the group.

Hunk wanted to ask what was wrong, but was hesitant to interrupt the story when Lance had it in full swing.

The Blue Paladin had reached a part in the story where he unfortunately had been captured by Galra sentries and locked up with Keith.

"How the heck did you two manage to escape after that?" Pidge asked, leaning at the edge of her seat, green eyes bright with excitement.

It was at this point, Hunk caught Lance and Keith sharing a quick, unease glance at one another. It lasted no more than a tick. Before Hunk could process what he had seen, Lance was facing everyone again, smiling with relaxed confidence.

"Oh, it was easy." Lance continued as if the pause had never occurred. "The two of use pretended to fight, lured the guards in, and jumped them." He shrugged his shoulders in an airy manner. "Between the two of us, it was a piece of cake getting out of there. Isn't that right, Keith?" Lance asked, looking expectantly at the red paladin sitting beside him.

Despite the cheerful smile on Lance's face, Hunk saw a glimmer of concern flashing in his blue eyes.

"Umm…" The Red Paladin didn't look please to have everyone's attention drawn to him. "Yeah, it went great. No problems at all."

Keith attempted a smile, but everyone could see that it was forced.

Lance frowned but after a heartbeat immediately launched back into the daring tale of escape, successfully drawing everyone's attention away from his brooding friend. Hunk spied Keith sighing in relief.

Lance ended the story by retelling how the pompous Prince swore eternal vengeance on the two paladins as they escaped.

"He yelled that he was going to rip my head off with his bare hands while Keith watched and turn the Blue lion red with my own blood. Then make Keith pilot it before finishing him off too."

The Blue Paladin glanced around the room to see everyone besides Keith staring at him with jaws dropped and eyes wide with horror.

"…What? I told you he was a bloodthirsty slimeball!"

"Lance, you must take threats like that from a ruler very seriously!" Allura chided the Blue Paladin harshly. Despite the anger in her voice, her beautiful face was lined with worry and concern for the safety of her two friends.

Lance looked taken back for second, a light blush spread across his cheeks. But he relaxed when Keith placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"We can handle whatever Prince Lotor throws out way." The Red Paladin confidently said, his violet-grey eyes lightly narrowed as if challenging anyone to argue with him.

Lance smirked smugly and leaned an elbow on Keith's shoulder. "Yep, what he said."

Shiro got up and placed a hand on each boy's shoulders. A proud smile graced his scarred face as he spoke. "I'm sure you two could, but luckily for you, next time all of us will be there to help if Prince Lotor tries to act up on that threat."

"Aww, thanks space dad."

"….Lance, please don't call me that."

"Not promising anything."

Hunk and Pidge were unsuccessfully holding back giggles when Allura stood up and clapped her hands together for attention.

"Come on Paladins. I believe it's now time for us all to rest up for the night." A fond smile rested upon her face as she gazed lovingly at each of them. "You all must be so tired from your ordeals. We can resume celebrations tomorrow."

Everyone was in full agreement. Now that the excitement had worn off, all of them could feel weariness seeping into their bones. Yawns started to come out as they all trudged their way to back to their old sleeping quarters.

After giving out the last batch of bone-crunching, goodnight hugs to all his friends, Hunk started to head to the old bedroom as well. However, right before he exited the common room, Hunk turned to look back to see if Lance was following him.

He wasn't. The Blue Paladin was still standing in the middle of the common room, huddled close to Keith as they held a quiet conversation with one another. Hunk knew he shouldn't pry, but the unusually serious expressions on their faces had caught his attention. The Yellow Paladin didn't dare move a muscle in case they noticed he still remained in the common room entrance.

Though their voices were too quiet for Hunk to fully hear, he noticed a lot of head shaking from Keith and some elaborate hand gestures from Lance's end. However, after a few ticks of eavesdropping, a couple words were whispered loud enough to carry over.

 _"…_ _Why..?"_

 _"…_ _They don't need to know…"_

 _"…_ _They can't know…."_

 _"…_ _I won't tell…"_

Hunk's gut churned uncomfortably.

 **...Why did this darn show get me back to fanfiction after all these years?**


	2. The Sleepover

"Okay so what's the weirdest thing you had to eat out there?"

Hunk let out a giant huff of laughter from his spot on the floor besides Lance's bed. Hearing giggling coming from Lance as well, Hunk felt a rush of happiness the two friends had decided on an impromptu sleepover of sorts.

It had been about an hour since everyone else had gone to bed after the return celebration. Originally, Hunk had returned to his old bedroom and tried to go to sleep; pushing away the odd conversation he had witnessed Lance and Keith having to the back of his mind. However, after so many cycles of being forced to sleep alone on strange, alien planet, Hunk even found the isolation of own bedroom to be disturbing. With sleep evading him, Hunk had sought out the comfort and companionship of the one person he knew would probably tolerate his presence at such an odd hour.

Lance, to Hunk's relief, had also been having trouble sleeping. The two buddies and former roommates immediately threw some spare blankets on the floor around Lance's bed and, once they were relaxed and comfortable, began to cheerfully chat about whatever popped into their head similar to their old bunk days at the Garrison.

"Well?" Hunk was pulled from his thoughts by Lance's voice. He glanced up to see Lance's bright blue eyes peeking down at him from the edge of the bed, twinkling with mischief. "Have to eat any creepy-crawlly bugs like you did with your girlfriend Shay?"

Hunk snorted and playfully swatted a large hand at Lance's face. "First the last time, she's not my girlfriend!"

Lance ducked back and then popped his head out again, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Just a rock you admire!" His voice dropped to a playful whisper. "And want to kiss it!"

He ducked back when Hunk threw a pillow at him.

"Anyway, back to the question," Hunk said, thinking back to all the odd cuisine had been forced to eat while away. "Some village on his jungle planet fed me something that looked like a monkey with octopus tentacles. Looked disgusting but kind tasted like banana for some reaso n." He licked his lips at the memory, "Actually wouldn't mind having it again."

Lance rolled his eyes, "Figure you'd say that."

Hunk grinned, "What can I say? I have exotic taste."

The two friends shared a laugh, warm and relaxed. Hunk enjoyed this- it was great to be able have some quality bonding time with his closest friend once again. Of course Hunk loved being all his teammates and fellow paladins, but there was certain amount of comfort that came with his old and easy friendship with Lance. The two boys had connected well with each other ever since their first day at the Galaxy Garrison- Hunk's more cautious nature helped even out Lance's daring attitude while Lance's confidence always helped urge Hunk forward during his nervous breakdowns.

"So what about you?" Hunk asked wanting to continue their game of questions, "What's the weirdest thing you had to eat?"

"Well it's hard to beat the space goo Coran always makes but…." Lance's eyes brightened as he leaned a bit closer to Hunk to whisper loudly. "Don't tell Keith that I told you, but both me and him ate these weird pink berries with blue spots all over them…" his voice trailed off in a suspenseful manner.

Hunk smiled and leaned forward in anticipation. "And…?"

Lance's grin stretched from ear to ear. "And holy quiznak you would not believe the things I saw after eating those bad boys! I saw literal Pidge pigeons flying around my head! Let me repeat- pigeons with Pidge's head were flying around my head sprouting weird emoticons out of its mouth!"

Hunk held his belly as he shook with laughter, "Hahah, no way! Haha, out of all the things you could eat- Hahaha- you two actually managed to find some drug berries! Hahaha!"

"Not on purpose!" Lance argued, though he was smirking and looking as if he was holding back his own laughter. "We were hungry and how was I supposed to know the berries would make me hear Keith's mullet talking crap about me and cause Keith to beat up a poor tree for calling him short?"

Hunk was flat on his back, holding back tears as he laughed even harder. "Oh man, hahaha, you two should have brought some back! Hahaha!"

Lance let out a fake gasp of horror. "And suffer the disapproval of space dad? For shame Hunk!"

The lanky boy then chuckled, shaking his head, "But nope, trust me, even if it was an interesting experience, the aftermath wasn't. As soon as the hallucinations wore off, both Keith and I were puking our guts out." He pulled a wry face at the memory. "It was disgusting."

Hunk couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's misfortune, "Sounds like a bonding experience."

Lance snorted in amusement. "Oh yes, nothing says bonding like having to hold back Keith's greasy mullet while he pukes poisoned berries all over my feet."

From his nest of blankets on the floor, Hunk glanced up to witness a fond smile cross Lance's face as he spoke. For the first time in a while, Hunk's mind drifted back to the whispered conversation and the sudden closeness Lance and Keith had shared in the common room.

"Well, it must have worked." Hunk pointed out. "You two don't seem to hate each other anymore."

"Oh of course I hate him!" Lance lazily droned, wriggling around in his bed. "I feel burning loathing every time I see that mullet and that horrible red, jacket stolen from a 80's trash bin. My hatred is only natural- he is my archrival after all."

Hunk rolled his eyes at Lance's dramatics. "Dude, I'm serious. You two seem…different. Closer, I guess."

There was a moment of a silence. Then Lance spoke again, his voice losing its usual humored edge.

"Umm…yeah...I guess I'll admit that when he's not so being all broody and annoying, Keith is….kinda a great guy." He sounded almost embarrassed to admit it.

Hunk had to fight to hold back teasing grin at seeing how red Lance's face was getting. "Should I be jealous?" He joked.

"What? No!" Lance scoffed, looking flabbergasted at the mere thought. "You're my main man! We're practically leg buddies!"

Hunk couldn't hold back a loud laugh at that. "Leg buddies? Yep, I like that- that's totally a thing now."

"Anyway, I totally still prefer being stranded in space with you- at least I wouldn't have to explain every single joke to a guy who apparently has not watched television for years."

"Oh poor you." Hunk said giggling which Lance soon joined him in. When the laughter died down, Hunk, feeling a sudden urge of warm affection fill his chest, blurted out, "I really missed you, you know."

The sudden confession seemed to stun Lance into a momentary silence. After a heartbeat or two, Lance glanced down at Hunk, his blue eyes shimmering with fondness. "I missed you too, buddy. I missed all of you guys." He paused and spoke again in a hesitant, quiet voice. "There were….a couple of moments when I thought…I thought I might not see any of you ever again."

Hunk felt his throat sudden tighten. He had had those moments too- he was sure everyone had during their time away.

"I'm glad you're safe." Hunk finally said when the lump his throat had lessened. "And I'm glad you at least had Keith with you."

"Don't let Keith ever know I said this," Lance told him, "But I'm happy he was with me too.

The two friends fell silent for a bit after that, both lost in their own private thoughts. Neither had expected the atmosphere to suddenly become so heavy. When the silence grew to an awkward length, Hunk decided to dissolve it.

"So…ummm…" Hunk tried to get the conversation back going, "besides eating poisonous berries and escape from mad Galra princes, what did you two do most of the time?"

"Argue," Lance immediately answered, "About literally everything. And then compete against each other to see who could find food quicker. " Hunk could hear a smile in his voice. "But when we were tired of arguing and running around, we'd talk."

"About what?" Hunk asked, curiously.

From the top of the bed, Lance shrugged his shoulders. "Stuff. Most of the time, it was about whether we'd ever find you guys again." At this, Lance blinked warmly down at Hunk.

Hunk felt his nose warm with embarrassment. He glanced away, grinning. "And the other times?"

"Home." Lance answered wistfully. Hunk felt his own heart ache for a tick at the word. "Keith always mentioned missing his bike and that shack in the desert- so weird sometimes that guy. I talked about my family- my mom, dad, my annoying sisters, everyone. Believe it or not, but I think Keith actually likes hearing me rambling about my crazy family."

"Does Keith have any crazy family stories too?" Hunk asked, honestly curious.

The Yellow Paladin knew instantly he had made a mistake when he saw the smile fall from Lance's face. Lance awkwardly shifted his blue gaze away, staring at his bedsheets silently, saying nothing at all but speaking volumes all the same. Hunk's face fell as the implications came together- Keith **_had_** no crazy family to talk about.

" _Oh_." Hunk quietly said, stomach dropping at the realization. "I'm sorry." He added, not knowing what else to say.

Lance slowly nodded, still avoiding Hunk's stare. "Yeah…me too."

Another heavy, now even more awkward, silence fell.

As the lull in conversation stretched on, Hunk thought about what all knew about Keith and realized that besides Keith's reputation at the Garrison and that fact that he and Shiro had known each other for a while, Hunk really did not know a lot much about the Red Paladin. It wasn't much of a surprise since Keith was generally a quiet and private person. The only person Hunk had ever seen Keith really open up to was Shiro. Perhaps that's why Hunk felt so surprised to hear Lance reveal knowing such an intimate detail of Keith's life.

 _The two of them_ _ **had**_ _grown closer._ Hunk realized thoughtfully, blinking up at Lance, who was now lying on his back on the bed and gazing at the ceiling.

As if sensing Hunk's pondering gaze on him, Lance shifted his head to look back down at Hunk. There was a conflicting expression on the Blue Paladin's tan face. After a tick or two, Lance spoke up. "Hey Hunk, can I ask you a question?"

 _You just did,_ Hunk wanted to joke back at him, but the intensity in Lance's blue eyes made him realized that Lance was very serious at the moment. "Sure, shoot."

"What do you think of Keith?"

Hunk blinked in confusion, definitely not expecting to be asked something like that. "You mean if I like him? I mean he's definitely good-looking but you know I don't really go for…."

"No! No!" Lance quickly cut Hunk off, blushing. "I mean as a person in general!"

Hunk tilted his head to the side, staring at Lance curiously as he thought over the question.

"Keith…is okay?" Hunk finally said. "I mean he's cool and awesome in like everything- fighting, piloting, being a badass in general…"

" _Traitor_." Lance murmured under his breath.

"But," the Yellow Paladin continued, "I don't really know him that well. He's a nice guy whenever I get a chance to talk with him and I'd definitely pick him to be with me on any mission, but….I don't know, a part of me is kind of intimidated by him?"

"…Are you scared of him?" Lance asked unexpectedly.

Hunk blinked in surprise. "No…well…not anymore. Though I will admit that the night we slept over at his scary shack in the middle of the desert, I couldn't sleep because I was half expecting Keith to secretly be a crazy serial killer." At seeing the odd stare Lance was shooting him, he hastily defended himself, "Hey, come on! The guys slept with a knife, build home-made bombs, and lived alone in the desert, what did you expect me to think?!"

He heard Lance heave a heavy sigh and mutter quietly almost to himself, "Yeah…yeah…he does give off that vibe, doesn't he?" He sounded very frustrated for some reason.

"I mean I don't think that anymore!" Hunk quickly added, trying to brighten Lance's suddenly damp mood. "I think Keith's a good guy- just a bit weird at times."

When Lance remained silent, Hunk felt a stab of concern rush through him. "You okay?" he asked in a worried tone.

He was relieved when Lance turned to him with a smile back on his face. "Yep, just feeling a bit tired." The scruffy-headed boy let out a loud yawn for emphasis, his back arching like a cat. "Think I'm going to hit the sack."

Hunk felt his gut get a twinge of discomfort at the sudden halt to the sleepover. He tried to grin reassuringly at his friend. "Yeah, me too. It is late after all."

He quietly watched Lance shuffle under his cover. Hunk lay down in his own nest of blankets and settled his large head into one of the pillows Lance had let him borrow. There was a clap from Lance and the lights in the room instantly dimmed to a semi-darkness.

"Good night, Lance," Hunk called out, pulling the covers to his chin.

"Good night Hunk." Lance returned sleepily.

There was a tick of silence. Then…

"Hey Hunk,"

Hunk peeked from under his blanket to see the faintest glow of blue peering at him from the darkness.

"Yeah?"

A tick passed.

"There's something…" Lance began but his voice suddenly faltered.

Another tick passed by in the still silence. Hunk heard only his own heart beat nervously in the darkness.

"…You know what, nevermind. Sorry, it's nothing." Lance rolled around to face the bedroom wall, his back to Hunk, murmuring another quiet "good night".

Hunk stared at his friend's backside for a few ticks, feeling a wave of sudden dejection flow over him for some reason. He then rolled around to snuggle his head deep into the pillow, taking a small amount of comfort in its softness. As an unsettling sleep finally overtook him, Hunk whispered one last thing into the quiet night.

"Good night Lance."


	3. The Training

The next morning brought a fresh start for Hunk. All the awkward and unsettling feelings he had felt before falling asleep the night before had dissolved and replaced with the contentment of finally waking up in a familiar place. He peeked up at Lance in the bed and saw his buddy still sleeping; a caramel cheek was mushed against the pillow and a strand of drool dripped from his softly snoring mouth. His normally well-groomed tawny hair was tousled and all over the place.

The Yellow Paladin smiled into his pillow at the sight. It was good to be home again.

Being the wonderful friend that Hunk was, he allowed Lance a few more minutes of sleep. Then his stomach started to send him warning growls for food so Hunk roughly threw a pillow at Lance's face. The noble Blue Paladin woke up with an undignified shriek, falling off the bed and onto his face.

Lance let out a string of curses in Spanish while Hunk just laughed like any good buddy would.

Eventually, the two dressed themselves and started to make their way to the dining hall, chatting and goofing off just like old times.

"I really hope Coran at least uses one of your recipes for breakfast," Lance told this larger friend, grinning. "Love the guy, but man out of all the things I missed, his cooking was not one of them!"

Hunk's chest swelled up with pride at the mention of one of his recipes. "Don't worry, by tomorrow I'll be back in the kitchen cooking again."

"Good, if you didn't, I might have considered going back to eating poisoned berries again."

Hunk playfully shoved Lance with his shoulder. "Oh I'm sure Coran's food goo will make you see things too if you eat enough of it."

Lance laughed and tried to shove the hunkier boy back with no results. Hunk felt a small sense of relief that whatever sullen mood Lance had fallen in the night before was long gone. His best friend seemed to be his normal joking and confident self once more.

The two friends entered the dining hall to see that Shiro and Pidge were both already in their usual seats at the long table, filling their plates with Coran's signature green goo. Hunk noted that Allura, Coran, and Keith were still absent.

Shiro looked up at the two younger paladins entered, a warm smile on his face. "Good morning, you two. Sleep well?"

"You bet!" Lance said with great cheer, seating himself. He glanced around, smile fading just a bit, and asked casually, "So where's Mullet Man at?"

"Probably still sleeping." Shiro answered, giving Lance a look. Hunk noticed Shiro's smile grow a bit as if he were happy to see Lance show some concern for Keith's whereabouts. "I'm sure he'll be up soon. Everyone deserves a little time to sleep in after all we've been through."

"Got that right!" Hunk agreed as he settled into his seat and immediately started to fill his plate. "You know it's so nice to go to sleep and not have to worry about something coming to ambush you or, I guess, eat you."

"Can't really argue with you there." Pidge said, stretching her tiny arms out. "I actually got a full night of sleep for once."

"Maybe you'd get that more often if you didn't stay up all the time to upgrade your equipment." Shiro pointed out teasingly.

"Oh shut up, Space Dad."

"…..Why is everyone calling me that?" Shiro sighed with great feeling.

Hunk, Pidge, and Lance snickered into their plates, not bothering to answer. Then the sound of a mechanical door swishing open made them all look up. It was Keith.

Hunk saw Lance instantly stand a littler straighter in his seat. Keith didn't look at refreshed as the rest of them. In fact, Hunk realized with a twinge of concern, Keith didn't look like he had slept well at all. His raven hair was ruffled and strands were sticking out all over the place and there was the hint of dark bags under his eyes.

Perhaps Lance and I should have invited Keith to our sleepover, Hunk privately thought.

"Well, look what the lion dragged in." Lance announce loudly in a snarky tone, his blue gaze following Keith as he made his way down the steps into the room.

Keith shot his teammate a tired glare. "Oh shut it. It's still too early to listen to your annoying voice."

At the start of what they all knew would be an argument, Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge all shared a suffering glance that clearly read, "Well, it was good while it lasted."

However, to their surprise, Lance made no rude comeback and Keith actually took the empty seat next to Lance with no cutting remarks. The paladins all began to start eating their less than appetizing breakfast. Hunk noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Lance and Keith had paused in eating and had their heads leaned in closer to each other, whispering quietly. He saw Keith shake his head at something Lance's had said and then saw Lance visibly sigh in relief. The two then resumed eating as if nothing had happened, their gazes fixated on their plates.

Hunk blinked. Well, that happened. He saw that Shiro and Pidge were looking over him with raised eyebrows. Hunk merely shrugged his shoulders just as perplexed as they were at Lance and Keith's odd behavior.

Shiro cleared his throat and asked, "So did you sleep alright Keith?"

Keith jerked his head up in surprise, blinking owlishly at their leader. "Umm, yeah, I guess. Just had a bit of trouble getting used to not sleeping in Red's cockpit."

Hunk could understand that. There was many nights when he had been gone where he spent the nights in the Yellow Lion's cockpit with the sound of Yellow's purrs the only comfort to lull him to sleep.

"Maybe you should just camp out in Lance's room?" Pidge suggested, grinning evilly like the imp she was, "Sure you two did that a lot."

Lance instantly began to violently choke on his mouthful of goo.

"Pidge!" Shiro chided, shooting the youngest Paladin a stern glare while both Hunk and Keith quickly pounded Lance's back as he continued to splutter and choke.

"What? It's just a suggestion! Not like Hunk doesn't sleepover sometimes! Trying to be helpful here!"

"ACK! ACK!"

"Oh stop being a drama queen, Lance!"

"Pidge, he's really choking! Look his face is turning blue!"

The doors of the dining rooms swished opened and out strolled the radiant-looking Princess Allura, four mice on her shoulders, and her advisor Coran following dully behind her.

"Good morning, Paladins!" Allura greeted her beloved warriors, arms spread out and beaming widely. She did not seem to notice the chaotic scene that was unfolding before her. "Hope you are all refreshed and ready because I…"

She was interrupted from her lovely morning speech by Shiro let out a cry of "LANCE!" and standing up from his chair so violently that the chair was sent toppling across the room. With inhuman speed, Shiro sped over where Lance was choking, pushed Hunk and Keith out of the way, wrapped his arms around a choking Lance's waist and _squeezed._

With a splutter and a gasp, a glop of green goo was send flying from Lance's mouth and landed straight on top of Allura's royal foot.

A shudder rippled through the princess's body as she unleashed a very unroyal shriek of disgust that made Pidge laugh out loud. She laughed even harder, pounding the table with her tiny fist, when the green mouse started to eat the goo which caused the Princess to shriek even louder.

Lance, gasping for air, slouched the front half of his body on the table. After a moment of heavy breathing, he weakly raised a hand to give Shiro a thumbs up.

"Thanks Space Dad."

Hunk and, even Keith, joined Pidge in laughing as Shiro groaned and slapped a hand over his face in exasperation.

Conan watched the entire scene with amusement twinkling in his eyes.

"Well, looks like we're off to an interesting start to the training day, don't you think, Your Highness?"

Allura made no reply. She was too busy trying to shake off the green goo from heel, pretty face scrunched up in disgust.

Conan chuckled.

Once everyone had recovered from the breakfast fiasco, Princess Allura and Coran had them suit up in their Paladin armor and meet in the training area.

"I thought you said today we'd celebrate some more?" Hunk pointed out, remembering her parting words from the night before.

"We are!" Prince Allura answered. She had regained her composure from her mild freak out earlier. "What better way to celebrate reuniting than finding out how much each and every single one of you have improved during your time away?"

"I don't know- relaxing, enjoying a few more hours of peace before being thrown back into danger's path again?" Hunk suggested. The glare Allura sent him made him immediately snap his mouth back shut.

"The princess is right!" Coran said brightly, moving around the assembled paladins. "From what I hear, you've all faced a lot of peril on your adventures. Experience in the open field is the best way of sharpening a warrior's skills and instincts. In order to improve even more, the Princess and I need to see how far along all of you are."

None of the paladins could really argue with Coran's logic. Hunk himself knew that his fighting skills had definitely improved during his time defending himself against the dangers of space. And he was positive that he wasn't alone- the Yellow Paladin could see that all of his friends had grown even more fit, more muscled, and there was a roughness to all their physique that hadn't quite been there before. The only one who hadn't changed at all was Shiro, but that was no surprise. Their leader had already gone through hell long ago.

Right now Shiro looked content, even excited. He swept his calm, encouraging gaze over the younger paladins.

"Let's give it a go. I'm sure we'll all like to see how we've all become better paladins."

Shiro's support was all the rest of them needed to get pumped up.

"Alright, let's get started!"

"Try to keep up guys!"

"Don't be jealous by how much better I am than you now, Keith."

"So you admit that I was better before, then?"

"In your dreams, mullet head!"

Within the next few minutes, the training deck had been set up for the paladins to perform the defense team exercise. The princess and her advisor were in their stations at the viewing deck while the paladins were on the ground below, in the very center of the area, shields up. Hunk listened as Allura's voice echoed through all of their comm links in their helmets.

"I'm sure you are all familiar with this exercise. In a few ticks, I will unleash the laser bots to attack- your duty is to protect on another for as long as you can." The Atlean princess explained. "You have been apart for a while- it's good to try and get you back in the mindset of working as a team. Do you understand?"

"We got it." Shiro answered for the team. Hunk bend his knees and got into a defensive stance, holding up his shield. He instinctively gravitated towards Pidge who he knew his larger frame would shield. From the corner of his vision, he saw Lance and Keith on either side of him ready themselves as well.

"Paladins, get ready!" Conan shouted, his voice echoing in the vast chamber. A tick passed. "And here we go!"

Small side doors along the wall whished open and immediately dozens of circular, mechanical robots came floating out, lasers blazing. Within moments the paladins were surrounded by all sides by the robot orbs, bombarded by shocking blue lasers.

Hunk remembered how horribly they had all done the first time they had performed this exercise. Even afterwards, none of them ever really lasted too long. But this time was different. Hunk was more confident in his movements and judgement now than he had been in the past and was quick to catch any laser pointed with his shield before they could hit him, Pidge, or Lance- the two paladins he was near enough to actually shield. Even after four…five…eight minutes had passed and everyone was still going at it.

Unforunately, all good things come to an end. Hunk felt the light shock as a laser hit him in the shoulder and then the familiar stomach-turning whoosh that came from falling as the floor opened up below him. He was transported straight into the viewing deck, dropping like a sack of potatoes as the floor spit him back up.

Coran helped Hunk up with a cheerful smile. "Well done in beating your previous timings!"

"Still first to go though." Hunk muttered with a sigh. Besides the free-falling exercise, Hunk disliked the defense, laser exercise the most. The Yellow Paladin was great at shielding his teammates against the constantly whirling lasers, but unfortunately his larger, taller body made him too much of a target for the others to properly protect. Hunk was almost always the first one to be shot.

The ginger-haired Altain clamped a hand on Hunk's back and encouraging said, "Don't worry too much- every warrior has his or her strengths and weaknesses. You've improved and that should count as a small victory."

"But do strive to get better." Allura cut in. the princess's blue and pink eyes were focused on the viewing window, watching the exercise with furious concentration. "You all have a lot of training to catch up since you've been separated. It is vital we all be battle ready."

Hunk and Coran shared a meaningful glance- Allura was back into her all-powerful sergeant mode. That meant that this day would only end with bruises and aching bodies.

It wasn't but a couple of ticks later did Pidge join them. Hunk, seated against the wall, watched Pidge remove her helmet and wipe the sweat from her brow. He held up a large hand, grinning. "Nice job Pidge!"

Pidge grinning sheepishly and returned the high-five. "Not too bad yourself Hunk. Thanks for guarding my back."

"Anytime." Hunk answered with a smile, "Who do you think is up next?"

"Lance or Keith." Pidge answered immediately, sliding down to join her large teammate against the wall. "You know Shiro is always the last one standing whenever we do this."

Hunk was about to reply when a familiar whooshing noise warned them of their next fallen teammate's arrival. To both paladins' surprise it was Shiro who was on the ground, blinking and looking a bit dazed.

"No way!" Hunk gasped. "You always win this!"

"Technically there is no winner." Coran pointed out in bright tones, not even turning around from looking through the viewing window. "The exercise is to protect one another so really you all lost already!"

Shiro righted himself up and grinned over at his two teammates. "Well, not this time. Believe it or not, Lance and Keith are doing quite well."

Pidge already running towards the viewing window, shouting, "This I gotta see!"

Hunk was right behind her. The dark-skinned paladin slipped in between Shiro and Pidge and pressed his face close to the viewing window. Together, along with Coran and Allura, they watched in rapt fascination as Keith and Lance continued with the exercise alone.

They pressed close to one another, almost completely back to back. Never taking an eye off of the robots whirling around them, the red and blue paladin slowly moved in a rotation so that every side was covered. All while they shield each other, Hunk and the rest of the group on the deck could hear Lance and Keith ribbing each other on with playful taunts.

How are you holding up, mullet head?" Lance called out, raising his shoulder to block a laser aimed at Keith's head.

"Better than you. You were slow a second ago. I could feel that laser almost burn my hair!" Keith snapped, blocking a laser coming at Lance's leg.

"It was on purpose. You needed a haircut."

"The next one that comes at your mouth I'm letting pass. It'd be an improvement!"

"Ouch, that one actually hurt a bit."

"So will this laser so keep moving!"

"Incredible." Allura breathed. Hunk glanced over at the white-haired princess and saw her staring down at Lance and Keith with wide eyes. A grin was slowly spreading on her face. "They're actually working together."

"I know, it's quite a sight to see!" Coran commented, twirling his mustache with happy contentment. "The two of them must have bonded greatly during their time together- true brothers-in-arms!"

"It's…definitely surprising." Shiro added, sounding as if he didn't know whether to be pleased or shocked by how well the two former rivals working along side one another.

"We must test this." Allura suddenly said, straightening herself up. There was a dominating expression upon her face that Hunk recognized and instantly felt a tremor of fear go through him. The last time she had that look, she had aimed all the castle guns on them to help them form Voltron. He, Pidge, Shiro, and Coran all shared a look, the same thought bouncing in their minds…

Keith and Lance were in trouble.

Allura pressed a button on the control screen and instantly the robot drones halted their shoot and slowed down to a mere hover. Lance and Keith lowered their shields and glanced around in confusion.

"Did we win?" Lance called out.

"Coran said there are no winners." Pidge answered in him through the helmet. "We're all losers."

"…Harsh."

The princess's voice entered their comm links. "Keith, Lance, you two are doing a fabulous job!"

Even from his spot in the observation deck, Hunk could see Lance puff out his chest at the Princess's praise. He also saw Keith roll his eyes.

"You two are doing so well," Allura continued, "that we're testing you at the next level!"

The expressions on both Keith and Lance's faces instantly shifted into one of shock and then into horror with realization at what was about to happen.

Up on the viewing deck, Shiro, a look of panic slowly creeping up his usually composed face, leaned close to Allura and tried to interfere. "Allura are you sure this is a good…"

"I'm starting the sequence right now. Prepare yourself paladins!" Allura called out, completely ignoring Shiro, who's expression had gone into full-blown panic mode. Without further ado, the princess tapped the holoscreen and activated the new exercise.

Side doors opened on either side of the area and out came not just one, but six Gladiators rushed out. Hunk felt his gut twist and turn with anxiety. This would not end very well. One Gladiator was bad enough, but six?

"Umm, Princess, I know you wanna see how badass Keith and Lance are now, but can we just like at least start at just two Gladiators?" Hunk asked, his hands up in a begging fashion.

"Relax," Allura soothed, "all of them are level one. Based on today's performance, Keith and Lance should be fine. I have complete faith in their abilities."

A tick passed.

"Anyone one wanna bet who gets knocked off their butt first?" Pidge piped up.

"WE CAN HEAR YOU PIDGE!" Keith snapped from the comm link.

"Oh, cool it, Keith, I was betting on Lance anyway."

"HEY!"

"Concentrate, you two!" Shiro ordered. "The Gladiators are coming at you."

Hunk focused his attention back to the window and saw that it was true, the Gladiators had both paladins surrounded and their electric javelins were out and sparking menacingly. A change instantly fell over the two paladins- their bodies grew tense and neither moved a muscle. Through the shared links through the helmets, Hunk could hear Lance's breath start to pick up in an erratic manner.

Hunk saw Shiro's eyes widen at the sound. The Black Paladin's opened his mouth, probably to demand that Allura call the whole thing off, but was stopped by Keith speaking through the comm link.

"Relax," Keith seemed to be speaking directly to Lance, his voice lowered to a calming murmur. "It's just like before. You got this, Lance."

 _Before?_ Hunk blinked. Did they mean back on Prince Lotor's ship?

Hunk heard Lance take a deep breath. "Right." his voice went back to its usual cockiness. "Just try and keep up with me!"

"Same to you." Keith snapped back, though Hunk could hear a smirk in his voice.

In that instant, the Gladiators charged forward, javelins raised to attack the two paladins. Hunk threw his hands over his face, letting out a whimper of fear. Both Shiro and Pidge tensed up nervously on either side of him as they watched, waiting for Lance and Keith to make their move.

For a tick, the two paladins only stared with wide eyes at the approaching Gladiators. Then, as one, Keith and Lance drew close together, backs against each other, and, activated bayards in hand, began to furiously attack.

Hunk's jaw dropped in disbelief. Shiro sucked in a sharp breath while Pidge stared, her green eyes wide behind her glasses. She muttered a single, "No…way…"

None of them could believe it…Keith and Lance actually seemed to be kicking Gladiator ass.

The red and blue paladins were a force of their own. Back to back they remained, but never still, always twisting and weaving around one another. Attacking and ducking. Whirling and switching sides- a blur of red and blue that was forever in motion, shooting and slashing at anything that drew near.

 _Slash, shoot, switch….slash, shoot, switch…slash, shoot, switch…._

There was no longer any banter- no words at all- exchanged between the two, but there wasn't any need. Keith and Lance instinctively seemed to know what other was about to do and attacked or defended accordingly.

 _Slash, shoot, switch….slash, shoot, switch…slash, shoot, switch…._

A gladiator fell, its lights dimming in defeated, both a smoking gun wound to the head and a jagged sword wound in the chest.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Pidge muttered, unable to keep the awe out of her voice. "But those two are actually kind of awesome right now." She then shot Hunk a glare and added, "Don't you dare tell Lance I ever said that."

Hunk teasingly held his hands up in surrender, smiling. "I didn't hear anything."

A second gladiator fell, its limbs twitching.

Coran's mustache was quivering with pride. "Outstanding! They're really going at it!"

Allura was actually beaming, looking satisfied for once with how training was going. "This is excellent! If I had known I'd see such improvement, I would have dropped you all off at an isolated planet in the very beginning!"

Hunk felt the blood drain from his face. He and Pidge shared a horrified glance especially after Coran cheerfully replied, "Worry not, dear princess! I'll add that to the training regimen for future paladins straight away!"

Only Shiro still looked uncomfortable at how well the exercise was going. His dark gaze was fixed on the two younger paladins as they continued to fend themselves against the remaining Gladiator; his mouth set in a deep frown.

Hunk moved a bit closer to their leader. "They seem to doing okay, huh?" He remarked in a light tone, trying to wipe away the unnerving expression on the Black Paladin's face.

"It seems so." Shiro admitted quietly, his shoulders slouching a bit. He still looked unsettled, his eyes flickering with an emotion Hunk couldn't quite pin down- Concern? Guilt? Regret? "I'm just a bit concerned on what they had to go through to get that good."

The implications on what Shiro meant caused a wave of nausea to wash over Hunk for a moment. Keith's words from before returned to his mind and made Hunk wonder in a fretful manner. He made a note to ask Lance later to spill more details about what exactly went on during their escape from Prince Lotor's ship.

Hunk's attention was pulled back to the fight by Pidge tugging at his sleeve. "Look, they're down to three!" The Green Paladin pointed out in excitement.

Hunk looked back down at the fight and saw that it was true- only three Gladiators remained. Keith and Lance were still going at it, though both were now panting, sweat dripping down from under their helmets. Hunk could only really see Lance's face from his angle, but he could tell that Lance, as exhausted as he looked, was still full of adrenaline and grinning, looking ready to finish the sequence.

"You can do it Lance!" Hunk yelled encouragingly through the comm link. "You too Keith."

He saw Lance glance up towards the observation window and give a quick thumbs up. Lance then looked back at Keith, who's back was to the window. Hunk saw Keith turn his head slightly towards Lance.

And then grin on Lance's face suddenly dropped. For the first time since the beginning of the fight, Hunk saw panic flickering across Lance's tan face.

Confusion filled Hunk. What was Lance looking at? "Lance, are you o…" Hunk began but didn't have time to finish before Shiro let out a warning shout.

"Watch it Lance!"

Shiro's commanding tone snapped Lance back to focus. The Blue Paladin whirled around just in time for one of the Gladiators to thrust the blunt end of the electric javelin straight into Lance's gut. With a pained grunt, lanky paladin was sent flying to Keith, knocking both of them to the ground. Both were down and out.

With that the training sequence ended.

The rest of the paladins, with Allura and Coran in tow, rushed down to the training area. By the time they had gotten to the Red and Blue paladins, both were still on the ground and groaning, but were at least sitting up.

Coran was the first to greet them, arms spread out and beaming proudly. "That was a spectacular show! A little bit anticlimax at the end, but quite the performance nevertheless!"

Lance rubbed his aching gut, groaning, "Ugh…thanks Coran."

Allura was beaming as she stepped up besides Coran and added, "Coran is correct. I'm quite impressed by you two's teamwork today. I expect to see a lot more of it in future exercises."

While Pidge and Shiro walked over to Keith, Hunk went over to offer a hand to help Lance up. "They're right, you two were something else."

Lance allowed himself to be pulled up, grinning. "Pfft, what do you expect? We're rivals- of course we're going to fight well together."

Suddenly there was a gasp from both Shiro and Pidge, the former crying out, "What happened to your face, Keith?!"

Hunk whirled around to see Shiro and Pidge step away from Keith who was now on his feet and standing awkwardly in silence, an expression of panic on his face. Hunk's brown eyes fixed themselves upon the pale boy's face and his eyes grew wide at what he saw.

Upon Keith's face, right along his jawline to the bottom of his ear, was a large smudge of dark purple.

In a flash, before anyone could say anything else, Lance was suddenly at Keith's side, an arm thrown casually over the Red Paladin's armored shoulder. He playfully poked the purple smudge while Keith just stood blinking in shock and confusion at what the hell his teammate was doing.

"Man that's some bruise you got there Keith!" Lance exclaimed in a loud voice. He looked back at Hunk and the rest of them, grinning in an almost sheepish manner. "Sorry, my bad! Guess I accidentally elbowed this lughead in the face when I fell down! Isn't that right, Keith?"

Keith's violet eyes flickered from a grinning Lance to the gathered audience and then back to Lance who's large grin was so stretched out it looked painful.

"Um….yes?"

Lance patted the top of Keith's head with his free hand, cooing, "Well, then Keith, oh buddy, oh rival of mine, let me make it up to you by getting you some ice for that bruise!"

Ignoring the perplexed stares everyone was shooting the two; Lance started to quickly lead Keith away towards the exit, his arm still gripped tightly around the shorter boy's shoulders so it was almost as if he were dragging him along. Keith didn't resist at all- he allowed himself to be led off, looking almost like a deer in the headlights.

"Do…do you two need any help?" Shiro called out, the first to find his voice and it sounded very concerned at the moment. For good reason.

"Nope! Don't wait for us!" Lance called over his shoulder, literally pushing Keith through the doorway. "Just continue bonding and whatnot! We'll catch up!" With that, Lance bolted and the door to the training deck entrance swished shut.

An almost overbearing silence hung over chamber as the remaining paladins, princess, and advisor just stood blinking in confusion; trying to process they had just seen.

At last, Pidge said what they were all thinking.

"What the _quiznak_ just happened?!"


	4. The Princess

**Chapter 4:...The Princess**

Hey Keith, you have a little something on your face."

The only answer Pidge received was a dark smoldering glare from the Red Paladin. The reaction only made Pidge's shit-eating grin grow wider.

Hunk watched the exchange and tried to hide his mirthful grin behind the large pile of pink goo on his plate. After Lance and Keith had left in the middle of training, the rest of the session had been quite uneventful with the remain paladins mostly just sparring against the Gladiators. It was dinner now, and Lance and Keith had only just showed themselves a few minutes beforehand with Lance literally having to drag Keith through the doorway.

The moment they saw the Red Paladin's face, it was obvious why Keith was struggling so hard to escape Lance's grip.

There were two ridiculously large band-aid patches plastered on Keith's face- one along the lower jaw where the bruise from earlier was. And another was right in the middle of Keith's forehead.

Hunk had pointed at the forehead one with his spoon, asking, "Where'd that one come from?"

Keith scowled and crossed his arms, rolling his eyes towards Lance. "This idiot pushed me into a wall while he was _helping_."

Lance sputtered in indignation at such an accusation. "I did no such thing! What are- "

Keith not so subtly elbowed Lance right in the ribs.

"Oomph! Ow- I mean…yeah, I did that…thing. Whatever. Sorry."

When the two took their usual seats, Hunk, who was sitting on Lance's other side, had heard Lance whisper heatedly to Keith, "Why do you always have to make me look like the clumsy one?"

"Because it's more believable!" Keith hissed back.

"Ungrateful jerk." Lance mumbled with an eye roll before turned to fill his plate.

Hunk resumed eating his own meal, pushing their whispered conversation aside. They had probably had one of their usual arguments while Lance had been tending to Keith's bruises.

Pidge started her teasing a few minutes into the dinner. Keith made no comebacks to any of her good-natured ribbing, but did shoot out a lot of glares and was extra violent in stabbing his spoon into his plate of goo. Everyone tried to hide their own grins, even Shiro seemed to be fighting to keep up his own composed expression. Keith just looked too funny with the over-sized bandages covering his face.

Finally, Shiro took pity on the Red Paladin and steered the focus onto Allura, asking her about how the Castle has been holding up since they'd been gone. Allura and Coran enthusiastically launched into an explanation on how in the last battle with Zarkon, the ship had sustained some damages- enough for Allura and Coran to be forced to do a supply run for parts. Since the planet they had landed on was technically still Galran territory, the mission had to be done under secrecy with both Coran and Allura having to shapeshift into local residents.

The tale was very thrilling and Hunk, as well as everyone else, listened in with great interest. Though, at the point in the story when Allura mentioned having to shapeshift, Hunk noticed that Lance seemed to suddenly light up, eyes wide and a large, toothy grin spreading across his face.

 _Should I be worried about this?_ Hunk privately wondered. He recognized that look. It was the same look Lance had when he had suggested they all go sneak out of the Garrison for a night on the town, the same look when Lance first ran head-first into the metal muzzle of a giant, blue alien warship with no caution whatsoever. It was the expression of someone who suddenly had a dumb idea and had the recklessness to actually go through with it.

Yes, Hunk knew he should be very worried.

Which is why, when everyone started to depart back to their rooms or enjoy their own private time, and Hunk noticed Lance, after whispering something to Keith, get up to follow after Princess Allura, Hunk immediately went after them.

A part of Hunk felt bad for intruding on Lance's privacy, but if he was planning on cornering Allura to pull out a bunch of new pick-up lines, Hunk was going to put his foot down. Hunk had become a lot less tolerate of Lance's flirting exploits after they had nearly gotten the Blue Lion stolen. It was not one of Hunk's favorite memories.

Hunk paused in his slinking around when Lance stopped by the entrance of the control room. The Blue Paladin poked a head through the opened archway for a tick and then walk in.

Hunk waited a moment or two longer and then quietly shambled to where Lance had been standing only a tick before. The large teen kept his body pressed against the wall and only allowed his head to visibly peek inside. He saw Lance walking to where Princess Allura was standing, silently tapping her fingers upon several hologram screens, going through series of data.

Lance paused a few feet away from Altean royal and politely cleared his throat to announce his presence. "Evening Princess!" Lance greeted cheerfully.

The sorrel-skinned princess immediately halted in her activity and turned around to face the Blue Paladin. The holo-screen evaporated under her delicate fingertips.

"Good evening to you as well, Lance." Allura politely replied, though her tone and facial expression betrayed her surprise as seeing Lance seek her out. She recovered within a tick and offered Lance a friendly, if not a bit guarded, smile. "Forgive me; I was merely going some systems checks on the Castle before I retire for the cycle. Is there something you need?"

Lance took a step forward, his smile growing wider and his blue eyes sparkling. "Actually there is."

Hunk held back a groan, hoping Lance wasn't going to embarrass himself by trying to seduce the princess. Hunk really didn't want to have to drag his best friend away from Allura's wrath.

The white-haired princess seemed to be having similar thoughts. Allura's smile faltered at Lance's words and her crystal-blue eyes narrowed in warning. "Lance, if you are here to try out one of Earth's odd courting rituals, I will personally throw you out of this room."

Lance hastily took a step backwards and held his hands up in a pacifying gesture, his grin falling as a look of panic crossed his face. "No! Of course! I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about Alteans!"

Allura's eyebrows rose. "Oh." She blinked and the smile that spread across her lovely face instantly became much more welcoming. "I'm surprised- you've never shown much interest in Altean culture before. But I'll be happy to answer anything you'd like."

Sensing that he was out of danger, Lance relaxed and the smile on his face returned. "Okay, well my first question is…umm…" Despite his previous enthusiasm, Hunk noticed that Lance now looked a bit nervous. "umm…how do you Alteans learn how to shapeshift?"

 **What?** Hunk mentally yelled, blinking in confusion and wondering if he'd heard Lance right. Why on earth would Lance want to know anything about shapeshifting?

Princess Allura looked stunned as well by the question. "How we learn…how to shapeshift?" she slowly repeated.

Lance looked downright embarrassed at this point, the tips of his ears reddening. "Umm…yeah?"

Allura blinked. "Are…are you trying to learn yourself? Do humans possess such abilities as well?"

Lance's blue eyes grew wide. "What? No! I mean, it'd be totally cool if we could, but yeah, we definitely can't." The lanky teen rubbed the back of his neck as he mulled over his words. "I guess what I mean to ask if how do you train yourself to shapeshift? Can all Alteans shapeshift? Is it difficult for you to stay as one alien for a long time? Do you ever get stuck as something and can't change back? Stuff like that."

When Lance's rambling came to an end, Allura's surprised expression grew quite thoughtful. "I see. Any reason in particular this topic holds your interest?"

Lance let out a nervous chuckle and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh curiosity for curiosity's sake and all that jazz."

"An interesting earth expression." Allura noted, gazing at Lance through half-closed eyes. She seemed to study Lance for a tick more before speaking once again. "To answer your questions, yes- all Alteans do possess the ability to use minor shape-shifting. However not all could- it's a skill that takes a lot of time and dedication to master and for many citizens it is not needed. As royalty, I was trained at a very early age since it is a vital skill needed for the royal duties of exploration and diplomacy."

Lance nodded to show that he was listening. "Cool, cool, that makes sense. So can you stay as a different alien for a long time with switching back?"

"No," Allura answered, "For some time yes, but not for too long. Even with all the practice and training a shifter can go through, a body always yearns to return to its original before too long. It's not natural otherwise." Seeing that Lance still looked a bit puzzled, Allura tried a different tactic. "How can I explain it? Imagine Lance if you had to hold your arms straight up in the air."

"Like this?" Lance's arms shot up, stretching towards the ceiling.

"Yes, exactly like that. Now are you having any difficulties at the moment?"

Lance grinned cheekily. "Nope, I can do this all day Princess."

Allura hummed and gave the paladin a patient smile. "I have no doubt you could, Lance. But imagine if you had to hold your arms up like that for several days with no moment of pause? Would you not start to feel the tiniest bit of discomfort? Would your arms not start to weigh you down seeking to return to their natural positions?"

Lance lowered his arms, wincing. "I see your point." He went silent a moment. Hunk saw him chew the bottom of his lips pensively. Then he spoke, "Okay, then what if you accidentally get stuck as something else can't change back to normal when you want to?"

Allura tapped her chin in thought, "Hhhmmm, that is an interesting question." The snow-haired princess suddenly let out an unexpected giggle. "Oh there was a time when me and my cousin Romelle were training together and both had a contest to see who could shift into the oddest alien- I won, naturally and Romelle winded up being stuck with giant Lupinese ears for the rest of the day, hehehe."

Lance let out a snort of laughter, "Try winning any contest against eight cousins, there's nothing but chaos!"

"Eight? I can only imagine! Having two was trouble enough!"

The princess and her paladin shared a laugh. Hunk watched them fondly, glad that Allura and Lance seemed to have finally found a similarity to bond over- their immense love for their long gone families.

"So," Lance finally said as he finished chuckling, "after your victory in the eternal wars of cousin rivalry, how was Romelle able to get rid of those pesky Lup-whatever ears?"

"Oh, Coran had her mediate alone for an hour." Allura answered, at last reigning in her tinkling giggles. "A big part of mastering shapeshifting is to keep a focused mind on what you're trying to shift to. A distracted or distressed mind makes holding a form very difficult. But it can work the opposite way as well. If you hold a form long enough like my cousin did and suddenly feel panicked, your body will cling to the new form as a defense mechanism. It could take some time to let your mind and body know that it is safe to shift back into its original self. Again, calming mediation and a focused mind are usually the best ways to deal with any shapeshifting dilemma."

Hunk saw Lance slowly nodded his head, looking as though he was in deep thought for some odd reason. The Yellow Paladin wondered what was going though Lance' s mind at the moment.

"Alright…calm mind, focus, got it." Hunk heard Lance mumble in a low voice.

Allura herself seemed intrigued by Lance's strange murmuring as well. However, she respected his privacy by just politely asking, "Is there anything else you'd like to know, Lance?"

Lance lifted his face back up towards the princess. "Yeah, just one more question, Allura…if that's alright."

"As long as it is decent." The princess replied smirking and raising a brow teasingly at the wannabe Casanova.

"Come on, you know I have too much class for that." Lance shot back with a winning smile. Hunk had to fight to hold back a snort at that comment. He settled for a silent eye roll.

"Anyway," Lance continued, now fiddling with his fingers in an absent-minded manner. "Um, I wanted to ask if the paladins of Voltron were made of different species. I mean, I know there were Altean paladins and now there are humans, but were there other species that were paladins as well?"

Hunk watched as Allura tilted her head at the Blue Paladin, her serene gaze regarding him curiously. "You are full of surprises today Lance."

Lance chuckled, puffing out his chest. "Yep, that's me! Always full of surprises and ready to impress, especially for the ladies!"

"Oh hush you," Allura chided, though her eyes sparkled with amusement rather annoyance. "To answer your question, Lance, yes though Alteans were the most popular race to be chosen for the titles as Paladins of Voltron, the Lions have had many species pilot them throughout the ages." She leaned close to Lance, grinning as if sharing a big secret, "In fact, the former Blue Paladin was from the Strigan race. You remind me a lot of him."

"Must have been a dashing, handsome devil then."

"Well I don't know what a devil is, but Strigans are an avian-based race. Soren had the loveliest blue feathers, but could chatter his beak off and would always show off by puffing his ridiculous crest feathers out the moment a cute alien came by." Allura let out a sweet bell-like laugh at the memory.

Sounds like a birdified Lance alright, Hunk thought with an amused smile. He imagined a peacock version of Lance strutting around, showing off his radiate feathers and had to bite down a chuckle before going back to spying on the two.

After a moment of reminiscing, Allura's smile slowly started to fade. Her eyes looked sad and gazed out to somewhere far, far away. "I do miss Soren. I miss all of them. At least I am grateful that was not present to see them eventually fall." Her eyes closed and Hunk saw a tiny tear form at the corner her eye.

Lance looked torn at see the princess look so tearful. He glanced bashfully away, his face sorrowful and red with embarrassed regret. "I'm sorry, Allura. I shouldn't have asked. I…I never meant to make you upset."

"No, Lance, you have nothing to apologize for." Allura quickly assure him, wiping her eyes. She let out one last tiny sniffle before composing herself, straightening her back and looked as dignified and regal as ever. "There is nothing wrong with remembering the past. In way it helps me remember what I'm fighting for."

Hunk felt his heart go out to the Princess and, for a brief moment, felt the urge to reveal himself so that he could embrace her in a comforting hug. All of them knew how hard Allura strived to ensure that Voltron become strong enough to stop Zarkon so that the fall of her planet and the death of her loved ones would not be in vain. It was a miracle that she could suffer through so much but still remain the strong, confident leader that she was.

Hunk's thoughts on Allura faded as Lance's voice hesitantly spoke up once more.

"Allura…"Lance began and Hunk caught a faint quiver of fear within his voice. "Were...were any of the former paladins Galra by any chance?"

The Yellow Paladin's mind short-circuited in shock at the question. The air in the room seemed to become still, all noise muted.

Allura closed her eyes and turned her body away from Lance. Her voice was low as she answered, "Yes. Only one."

"Zarkon." Lance finished for her.

Allura whirled around, her azure dress billowing behind her, and fixed Lance with a wide-eyed stare. "How did you know?" she demanded.

Lance rolled his shoulders, lightly swaying on spot as he answered, "Let's just say Lotor can be quite talkative when he's trying to run a sword through you. Bet if we had fought long enough, he would have named the accomplishments of every evil family member."

Allura stared at him in astonishment a heartbeat more. Then she looked away guiltily, frowning. "Coran and I did not mean to keep such a fact secret, especially from Shiro. But it seemed wise at the time- you were all so new to everything. We did not wish to scare you off by revealing the Paladin's darkest secret. That it was one of your own that brought the downfall of the universe upon us." She gazed imploringly at Lance, a pleading gleam in her eyes. "Please to not tell the others- not yet. Our spirits are finally high once again- let there be some peace for a little while longer."

Lance looked a bit troubled, but he still nodded. "Sure, I promise."

Hunk felt a chill go down his spine at this horrifying revelation. How could have Zarkon- the most evil, twisted creature in the entire universe- had been chosen to become a Paladin? Not just any paladin, but the pilot of the Black Lion- Head of Voltron and leader of the rest? How could the lions, who were supposed to have wisdom beyond all mortal understanding, have made such a grave mistake?

What did that mean for the new paladins? A dark, dangerous thought crept up from the back of Hunk's mind. If the lions had been mistaken before, could their decision to choose Hunk and his friends have been mistakes as well?

Hunk tried to push that thought away, instantly regretting ever eavesdropping on Lance and the Princess. He was about to turn and walk away, when suddenly he saw the princess take a step towards Lance.

He paused, interested peaked once more. Hunk cursed his insufferable nosiness.

Allura's eyes- such a lovely balance of sky blue and dawn pink- stared searchingly into Lance's own deeper blue ones. After a heartbeat, Allura suddenly took Lance's hands into her own, gently grasping her delicate fingers around them.

Hunk felt his jaw drop. His friend seemed to share his own surprise. Lance was staring at their intertwined hands in disbelief before looking back up as the princess spoke.

"Thank you Lance for rescuing Keith and the Red Lion from the hands of Prince Lotor," The Altean princess said, her expression solemn and her voice sincere.

Then a shadow seemed to fall over Allura's face, darkening her eyes and turning her voice sharp and cold with barely concealed hatred. "The last thing we need is the right arm of Voltron in the hands of a wretched Galra. That species has defiled the sacred name of Voltron once and the universe has suffered ten thousand years because of it. Never must we make that mistake again!"

Hunk took a step away from the doorway, eyes wide and looking unsettled. The raw hatred and repulsion coming from the princess' words and expression was unnerving to witness, especially since Allura was usually the beacon of sereneness and kindness. But Hunk understood her feelings- the Galra had taken everything from her just like they almost taken every from Shay and the Balmerains. Hunk felt enraged himself whenever he was remembered the horrible existence his beloved rock-skinned friend had had to live through.

Hunk was pulled away from his thoughts of Shay when he heard Allura's voice speak to Lance, suddenly full of concern.

"Lance is something wrong? You look quite pale."

Hunk snapped his gaze back to his best friend and felt a jolt of alarm at how pale and wretched Lance suddenly looked. He almost looked like he was about to be sick.

Allura, her forehead furrowed with worry, reached out to place a hand on Lance's cheek. "Lance, are you feeling well?"

Instead of melting into the princess's hands like Hunk expected his lovesick friend to do, he saw Lance take a shaky step back. The tan-skinned paladin visibly gulped, a bead of sweat falling from his forehead.

"Y-Yeah. Just now realizing how…how close of a call Keith and I had." He said in a voice that trembled slightly.

Princess Allura blinked at him. "Oh, I see." Her puzzled expression then melted into a kind, sympathetic smile. "Well, take heart in that knowledge Lance that you and Keith will not have to face Prince Lotor alone in the future. We are all here to support you."

The princess placed a reassuring hand on Lance's shoulder as she finished speaking. Hunk saw Lance stare at the hand and then glance back at Allura's smiling face- But instead of looking happy, Lance looked downcast. A beautiful princess was comforting him- why wasn't Lance smiling back? Hell, why hadn't he even ruined everything with a terrible pickup line yet? At least then Hunk would know that Lance was okay.

"Thanks Princess," Lance finally said, "That's… great to hear. " The Blue Paladin took a step away, letting Allura's hand fall from his shoulder. He forced a small smile on his face. "Thanks for the talk…we'll have to do it again sometime. Call it a second date!" Lance added in a light, humorous tone.

."Oh Lance!" Allura shook her head in disapproval, scowling irritably at him. However, Hunk saw a smile tug at her lips as soon as Lance had his back turned.

Hunk backed away from the entrance before Lance could see that he had been there listening in. When Lance walked through, he didn't even seem to notice Hunk at all. The lanky, dark-haired teen looked disheveled, his face pale and his eyes wide and distressed. Hunk felt his gut twist with discomfort just looking him.

Still not even noticing that his best friend was standing just a few feet down the hall, Lance whirled around in the opposite direction, probably to his own room.

Hunk stared after his retreating friend, debating on whether or not to go ask him what was up when a voice suddenly piped up from behind him.

"There you are Hunk!"

Hunk let out a squeal of surprised and spun around to find Pidge standing behind him, staring up at him with a questioning expression on her face.

"What are you doing standing around here for? This morning you promised to meet me at the hangars after dinner to work on the upgrade for the Yellow Lion?"

Hunk's mind was so wrapped around Lance's strange behavior that it took him a couple of ticks to register what Pidge was saying. Once it got through, he slapped the side of his head in agitation at his own forgetfulness.

"Oh yeah! Sorry about that Pidge! I was on my way and got…um…well…distracted." The large teen fidgeted, not daring to meet the Green Paladin's eyes out of fear of judgement for being caught spying on two of their friends.

Pidge narrowed her sharp eyes up at her taller teammate and made a "hmmph" noise of irritation, but luckily didn't question him further. She turned around and started to head towards the elevators, gesturing for Hunk to follow. "Whatever, you can tell me about it while we start on the upgrades."

Hunk followed dutifully behind her, listening as she launched into a long-length bullet point of every repair and modification she was planning to make on the Yellow Lion. Hunk did his best to remain attentive, nodding every few seconds, but as they at last came to the elevator that would lead them to the hangars below, Hunk came to a realization.

Lance hadn't been heading to his own bedroom- he had been heading to the opposite direction. There was only one other bedroom that way.

 _Keith's_.


	5. The Meal

**CHAPTER FIVE: The Meal**

Both Keith and Lance were late for breakfast the next day. Though Hunk noticed that he seemed to be the only one that felt particularly concerned about it. Pidge, Shiro, Allura, and Coran were happily chatting away and already digging into their plates of some orange porridge-like substance that Hunk had spent the last hour making in the kitchen. He would be the very first to admit it wasn't his most spectacular space dish but it was tastier than Coran's goo and fairly easy to make. Hunk's mind had been too muddled with thoughts over Lance's odd behavior from the previous night to really put much focus on cooking. Lance and Keith's lateness only escalated these worrisome thoughts.

 _It's not as if those two haven't been late before,_ Hunk mentally reasoned with himself as he chewed his food. It was true- Lance had a habit of oversleeping at times and Keith had trouble keeping track of time during his early morning training sessions. Maybe he was concerned because they were both gone? Were they hanging out together? Hunk had seen Lance heading towards Keith's room the night before. Had they had a bonding sleepover like he and Hunk had done many times back of the Garrison?

Hunk was surprised and slightly alarmed by how uncomfortable the last thought made him feel. Why did the idea of the Lance hanging out with Keith suddenly create such a dreadful stirring in his gut? Was it a warning? Or perhaps jealousy?

The Yellow Paladin shook himself to dispel such unpleasant thoughts. What was he thinking?! He should be happy that Lance and Keith were making a solid effort to get along better! So what if the two were acting a bit strange?

"They're probably still getting used to being home again." Hunk quietly told himself. "Stop worrying so much."

"Did you say something?" Pidge asked, nudged Hunk's thick arm with his elbow.

Hunk jumped a bit, startled. "Oh, um, just wondering where Lance and Keith are."

Pidge's bright amber eyes blinked up at Hunk, narrowing slightly as she studied him. Hunk had a feeling that Pidge could tell that something more was bothering him. Her bottom lip was pouted slightly in thought and, for a tick, it seemed she was about to question him further when Allura spoke.

"Oh, I would not be surprised if both were still asleep." Allura commented from her seat at the head of the table, having obviously heard Hunk's answer to Pidge's question. However, for once the white-haired princess did not sound vexed by the two paladins' tardiness. Hunk could even hear a bit off mild concern coming from her voice as she continued, "It was clear yesterday that Keith had not slept well and last night Lance looked a bit ill before he retired."

Hunk hurriedly started to resume eating his porridge, praying no one asked him anything. He couldn't trust his tongue to not slip up and reveal his eavesdropping habits.

"Lance is ill you say, Princess?" Coran questioned, pausing from his meal. He started to twirl a finger around the curled end of ginger mustache, smiling as he cheerfully boasted, "Well, then I'll just have to make our favorite Blue Paladin a kettle of some old Atlean Mirenettle brew! My grandfather always said a sip of it would a corpse jump back on its feet!"

There was a warm fondness nestled in Coran's purple eyes as he talked of brewing up a remedy for Lance's supposed ailment. Hunk had a growing suspicion that out of all the paladins, Coran had a soft spot for Lance the most.

Shiro stopped eating and lowered his spoon to stare across the table at the Altean princess, concern swelling in his dark eyes. "Really, Allura? Keith I understand, but Lance seemed fine during dinner."

Allura took a sip of her own warm tea before replying to Shiro, "Yes, I thought so too, but he and I chatted in the control room and he looked quite poor afterwards."

"Sure he wasn't just upset that you turned down one of his pick up lines?" Pidge piped up.

Allura, for once, leapt to Lance's defense. "Now Pidge, I'll have you know that Lance was a perfect gentleman last night. We actually had quite a riveting conversation."

"Oh my god, he is sick!"

"Pidge." Shiro scolded with fatherly disapproval, sending the smirking Green Paladin a warning look before turning to Allura and smiling. "Good to hear that Lance is finally toning down a bit. What did you two talk about, if you don't mind me asking?"

Hunk thought back to Allura's reveal to Lance about Zarkon being the previous Black Paladin and sunk down in his seat, actively avoiding looking in Shiro's direction. The porridge goo in his stomach was doing somersaults.

If Allura was thinking the same thing, then she was doing a much better job at hiding her emotions than Hunk could. She merely returned Shiro's smile and began to speak animatedly, "Oh Lance was quite curious about Altean shapeshifting practices and training regiments."

Hunk saw both Shiro and Pidge's expressions blank out and he could understand. They had obviously not been expecting that to be one of Lance's top topic choices for a conversation especially with a beautiful princess.

"That's…um…" Shiro seem to be struggling find a comment that would not sound offensive towards either Lance nor Allura. "….unexpected. Yes, that is really unexpected." He finally settled on. The paladin leader then asked, "Any reason in particular?"

"This is Lance- do we really want to know?" Pidge commented with a teasing smirk earning a playful eye roll from Hunk and an exasperated look from Shiro.

"I was quite curious myself," Allura continued to answer Shiro's question, ignoring Pidge's snarky remark. "I even asked him if humans were capable of shapeshifting though Lance told me your species lack such capabilities."

Shiro smiled kindly at the princess. "Lance is right with that one. Humans can change their appearances with the right tools, but not at will like an Atlean can."

"We have animals that can though," Hunk pointed out, finally feeling that the conversation had drifted into safe waters for him to wade into. "There's caterpillars that become pretty butterflies! Tadpoles into frogs….Oh, and parrot fish can turn from male to female too."

"Not sure if those are quite the same thing, Hunk." Pidge interjected, "Most of those are permanent changes. I think a chameleon lizard fit the Atleans better." She glanced over at Allura, shooting the princess a toothy grin as she explained, "They're small lizards from earth that can change the color of their skin to fit in to their surroundings."

"Fascinating!" Coran exclaimed.

"Can they change their entire body as well?" Allura inquired, leaning forward in her seat.

It was Shiro that answered. "Not really. Princess, the shapeshifting your people possess was considered a thing of legend and myth back on earth."

"And science fiction!" Pidge added.

"You mean science _non_ fiction now." Hunk asked with a grin. If Lance had been at the table, Hunk knew he'd be laughing at his joke. But for now, Hunk was content in sharing an across table fist-bump with Pidge.

Then a thought suddenly crossed Hunk's mind. "Hey hold the phone! If stuff like aliens and magic robot lions turned out to be real then how do we know stuff like vampires and werewolves aren't real too?"

"Maybe all our mythological stuff on Earth were based on visiting aliens?" Pidge theorized with a flick of her hand. "You have to admit if a Galra was seen on earth a few thousand years ago, they'd make a pretty good bogeyman to scare children with."

"That's a good theory, Pidge." Shiro praised warmly causing Pidge to flush with pleasure. "And after all we've witness so far, I'd say it's possible."

"Not just possible! Probable more likely! Which is possible but more! " Coran added brightly. "There are quite a few data entries within our library catalog that contain information on Earth- most of it probably very much outdated, but it's there. Which means that at one point in time one of our many notable Altean navigators has braved the galaxies to explore your beloved little backwater planet on the edge of the universe."

"Thanks for making us sound like a bunch of primitive galaxy rednecks." Pidge muttered dryly, flicking a piece of porridge in Coran's direction. The royal advisor didn't even notice it fly over his head and land on floor several feet away. It almost immediately devoured by the green mouse.

"Do you think there might still be any Atleans on Earth?" Hunk asked, generally curious. He knew how much both Coran and Allura missed their people. The Yellow Paladin figured that with all the billions of people on Earth, maybe there could be an Altean hiding among them?

Allura let out a sad sigh and drew a finger along the rim of her teacup. "It is a lovely thought, but unlikely. Explorations into far galaxies had discontinued after Zarkon began to rage war on us." The princess rested a chin on the palm of her hand, her cerulean eyes gazing wistfully into space. "But who knows for certain? The Blue Lion did make it to earth…maybe someone was with her at the time?"

Hunk and everyone else at the table shared a look, the expressions on their faces all of sympathy. As much as they all hoped that maybe somewhere in the universe more of Allura and Coran's people survived, after ten thousand years, it was very unlikely that even if an Atlean had landed with Blue on Earth, that they were still even alive.

There was a disheartening lull in the conversation as everyone allowed the princess's mind to wander and wish over near-hopeless fantasies.

Hunk swallowed a mouthful of porridge and brightly spoke up, trying to distract the princess from such melancholy thoughts and lighten the mood. "Hey so…um…Lance's and Keith's fighting was pretty cool yesterday right?"

At Hunk's statement, Allura broke out of her quiet musing, blinking over at the Yellow Paladin with a spark of interest. "Yes, it was quite extraordinary to see."

Both Coran and Shiro shot Hunk grateful looks.

"Yeah," Pidge picked up the topic enthusiastically. "Who would have thought those two could step up like that?"

Coran cleared his throat for attention, "Can't say I'm quite too surprised. Throughout history the Red and Blue Paladins were well-known for their stupendous teamwork in battle. One ancient enemy in begone times compared it to 'trying to battle against a maelstrom of fire and ice'." His ginger mustache curled with grin as he added, "From what I saw yesterday, I'd dare to guess that our Lance and Keith might have even bond synchronized while they were away."

Hunk immediately sprayed a mouthful of porridge all over the table at the very moment Shiro began choking on his food and Pidge shrieked, "HOLY QUIZNAK THEY FUCKED?!"

"Language Pidge!" Allura snapped, taking over as parent while Shiro pounded his own chest with a fist to force his food down.

"Sorry, Allura. HOLY SHIT THEY FUCKED!"

Allura smiled in an appeased manner. "Thank you Pidge."

Hunk briefly wondered if Pidge would ever forgive him if he told Allura that 'fuck' was considered as bad as a word as 'quiznak' on Earth. He decided he couldn't risk it.

Shiro finally managed to swallow the lump of porridge. He shot Pidge a warning glare before turning to give Coran a wide-eyed, confused stare. "Coran, I'm as impressed by Keith and Lance's teamwork as anyone else, but…don't you think it's a bit much to jump straight to that conclusion? I mean, the two of them have worked together well on missions before…" The Black Paladin's words faltered and died as he realized what that could imply. He adopted the thousand yard stare of a soldier that had seen too much.

Coran blinked and cocked his head to one side in puzzlement at all their reactions. "Fucked you say? Oh no, sexual intercourse has nothing to do with bond synchronization- though, there are writings that say it can help so perhaps…"

Hunk pressed his hands to his ears, trying to block out Coran's voice. "LALALA! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"

Princess Allura let out an amused giggle before composing herself once more. "Oh dear, Coran stop it. You know how squeamish humans are about such things. Let me properly explain- as I've mentioned many times before the paladins all share a bond linked through the forming of Voltron. When you form Voltron, your quintessence and minds are linked together. You all share individually share a similar bond to your lions as well where you can feel and see what your lion is experiencing."

Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro all nodded to confirm this, listening with rapt attentiveness.

"But it is also possible to experience this shared bond outside of forming Voltron and with your own fellow paladins," Allura continued, her blue eyes alit. "It takes time and a lot of effort, but it is possible to be able to harmonize your quintessence together with your fellow comrades. Paladins of old would do this to aid each other in battlefields and fight as one."

Coran stepped in. "From historic recordings, it seems that it easiest for the Red and Blue paladins to sync with one another since both form the right side of Voltron. In that regard, the Yellow and Green paladins were most compatible as well since both form the left side."

Hunk looked over at Pidge who did the same, raising her bushy eyebrows in honest surprise. "So, me and Pidge could learn to fight together like that?" Hunk asked, unable to keep the tone of disbelief out of his voice.

"Bond synchronization can happen with any paladin as long as the bond is strong enough." Allura answered.

"So you believe that Keith and Lance might have gone through that based on how well they were fighting?" Shiro questioned. The white-streaked man did not look doubtful, just mildly perplexed by the revelation. Hunk could understand- it just seemed odd that Lance and Keith, two rivals who were polar opposites, could forge a bond of that level before anyone else. It would make more sense if Keith and Shiro had synced or perhaps himself and Lance.

Once more, the strange, poison-like stirring resurfaces in his gut. He quickly squashed it back down before it could grow by chewing his porridge extra vigorously.

"I don't think any of us can say for sure until we talk to both Lance and Keith together." Allura admitted. She frowned and hummed in discontent, muttering, "I should have asked Lance about it last night. Such knowledge could help the rest of you reach synchronization faster. Imagine how much stronger Voltron could be if such a thing could occur."

As if on cue, the doors of the common slid open with a hiss. Hunk looked up from his plate and saw Lance enter alone. He was quick to see that Lance wasn't looking like his usual morning self- not say he looked ragged like Keith was yesterday, but his usually well cared for brown skin did lack its usual, moisturized glow and his scruffy, hazel hair needed another brush or two in several places. His blue eyes still held a tired, half-awake look.

"Mor-" Lance let out a yawn, "Morning everyone. Sorry I'm late."

Allura's face light up like a morning star and she practically shot up from her chair. "Lance! You're just in time- we have a lot to discuss!"

The princess's loud, unusually elated voice shocked Lance into full awakeness. "Huh?"

He blinked large and confused eyes at Allura and at everyone now staring expectantly at him from the table. This was obviously not the kind of reception had been expecting. For once, Lance didn't seem to be happy to be the center of attention.

Lance fixed a confused look towards Hunk, his round eyes wordlessly asking, What the hell is going on?

Hunk could only shrug his shoulders helplessly. It was too much for him to explain through silent gestures.

Lance fixed Hunk with a look of annoyance before focusing back on Allura and everyone else staring. Hunk watched him put on a practiced smile and attempt to assume his usual laid- back, charming air.

"Well, a lovely morning to you too Princess! Though not as lovely as you, yourself, I might add." Lance drawled a flirtatious tone causing Shiro to groan and Pidge to make a disgusted face behind her bowl of porridge.

Allura, however, seemed quite immune at this point. She merely ignored the compliment with a distracted wave of her hand. "Yes, yes, it is a lovely morning. Now Lance," She focused her crystal blue eyes on the paladin, gaze sharpening to an intensity that made Lance's smile falter slightly with nervousness, "there is something very important topic that needs to be discussed."

Lance winked roguishly at the snow-haired princess. "Anything for you! I am an open book."

"It regards you and Keith."

Lance looked like Sendak had suddenly teleported out of midair and sucker-punched him in the stomach.

"….wha?" asked Lance in a small, high-pitched voice that would have made Hunk laugh if his friend didn't look so terrified for some reason. His pupils had shrunk to dark pinpoints and were darting back and forth like a cornered animal searching for an escape route. After a tick, Lance seemed to gather senses. He gave his friends a shaky smile and laughed nervously.

"Keith? Haha! Who wants to talk about Keith?! Keith is as lame as his mullet. Let's talk about Hunk instead! Hunk is that a new dish you made? Hope you saved some for me big guy!"

Ignoring the perplexed stared everyone was shooting him, Lance rushed to take his seat besides Hunk, fill his plate, and start eating with gusto, filling his mouth to the brim with as bite and taking an immensely long time to chew. Hunk had an uneasy feeling that Lance was purposely avoiding having to talk about Keith, though he wasn't sure why. Did they have an argument?

Allura's eyes narrowed into a glare of impatience. She was obviously but off by Lance changing the conversation. "Lance, this is a very important subject! Please set down your spoon and listen! It regards the training session from yesterday."

Lance reluctantly gulped his porridge down. "Is it about the bruise I gave him?"

Hunk heard a nervous twinge in his voice and tried to sooth his friend's concern. "Don't worry, buddy we know it was an accident."

He was happy to see Lance's tense shoulders lower in a relaxed manner at his words. The strange nervousness that had possessed his friend was slowly easing away.

"Oh, well then…what was it you wanted to talk about then?" Lance asked hesitantly. There was still a wary gleam in his eyes.

Allura opened her mouth to speak but was halted by Shiro who raised his prosthetic hand. "Perhaps it would be best to wait until Keith gets here too since it does concern both of them."

The dark-skinned princess frowned, but at the insistent look on Shiro's face she reluctantly relented. "I suppose you are correct."

Black Paladin gaze Allura a grateful look and then turned to fix Lance with a warm reassuring smile. "Don't look so tense, Lance. Neither of you are in trouble- Allura and Coran just think you two's training session yesterday might help the rest of the team a bit."

Hunk watched Shiro's smile shifted into a concerned frown when Lance unleashed an obvious sigh of relief. His dark, acute eyes narrowed slightly as he leaned forward and asked, "Do you know where Keith is, Lance?"

Lance froze in the act of lifting a spoon full of orange space porridge up to his open mouth. A drop of it fell back into the bowl.

"Oh…um…yeah…about Keith," Lance said absent-mindedly, twirling the orange substance around the bowl with his spoon, his blue eyes wandering the room, not meeting anyone's face. "I stopped by his room and he's not…um… he's not really feeling well."

Hunk watched the expression on Shiro immediate transform into worried-team-parent-mode. "Is he alright? Should I go check on him?" The Black Paladin was already starting to rise from his chair.

"NO!" Lance shrieked loudly, standing up from his seat with a look of absolute panic spread across his face, his arms reaching out towards Shiro, palms spread wide in a halting gesture. Shiro sat back down, eyes wide with shock.

Seeing every eye in the room staring at him in shock as his extreme reaction, Lance pasted a toothy smile on his face and let out a nervous chuckle, sweat glistening on his forehead.

"Haha…what I mean is…" Lance began in a much calmer, quieter voice, slowly edging away from his chair. "…that Keith is totally fine, Shiro! Just a bad stomach ache. Probably still getting used to having to eat space goo again! Poor mullet-man has such a delicate stomach." Lance added with an almost tearful sigh, a hand over his heart.

Hunk found himself looking over at Pidge, wondering if she felt as confused as he did at the bizarre scene unfolding before them. She looked back at him with an unamused expression, one eyebrow raised. The Green Paladin was obviously not buying the act Lance was pulling. Hunk looked over to Shiro and saw their leader still frowning, his eyebrows furrowed in mild confusion.

He clapped his hands together and smiled charmingly at everyone around the table. "Anyway, I think it's best that poor Keith takes a break from training today. Unless, you know, we all want to clean up Keith vomit off the Gladiator and I'm pretty sure none of us want that. I know I don't! Haha…"

"Should I fix him some tea? Might do the boy some good." Coran asked helpfully.

Lance dismissed the idea with a much-too-bright smile and frantic wave of his hand, "Oh don't worry about it Coran! I'll just bring him some of Hunk's delicious weird, orange porridge goo. Sure, that'll ease his stomach." Lance grabbed the nearest empty bowl and began to quickly fill it up, rapidly speaking, "In fact, since I'm already full, I'll just go ahead and bring it to him right now!"

"Do you want me to bring it, Lance?" Hunk asked, feeling an overwhelming sense of concern for how odd his best friend was acting. "You literally just got here a few minutes ago."

But Lance was already halfway out of the door, a bowl of orange porridge nestled in the crook of his elbow. He waved an arm to acknowledge Hunk's words. "Naw, it's good! You guys stay, I'll meet you in training!"

As the doors slid shut a baffled silence hung in the air.

It was broken by the sound of Shiro sliding his chair back. The white-streaked paladin stood up, briskly addressing the rest of the company, "I'll be back. Best if I go have a word with him and see if everything's alright."

Without another word, Shiro took leave, exiting the dining room to head after Lance.

Coran stood up too. "Princess you were quite right about Lance seeming a bit ill. Best if I get that Mirenettle brewing! Hunk would you like to join me?"

Hunk did feel that if Coran was making something for Lance, then it would be best if he was in the kitchen as well to make sure whatever Mirenettle was it would be safe for human consumption. However, he felt the need to make sure Lance was alright first.

The large paladin nodded, "Sure, I'll meet you there. Just…um…give me a few ticks to grab something from my room."

He said a quick good bye to Pidge and Allura and headed out of the dining room and into the long, winding corridors of the castle. He set off in the direction of the paladins' quarters. It took only a few ticks of walking before Hunk began to hear some voices. Hunk slowed his pace and peeked around a corner to see the broad back of Shiro who was standing in front of Lance, speaking. Hunk remained silent, not wanting to disturb the conversation.

"Lance, are you sure everything's okay?" Shiro was asking in the tone of a worried parent.

Hunk saw Lance flash Shiro a cocky grin. "Of course, everything's fine Shiro! Why wouldn't eve-"

"Lance." Shiro interrupted, his voice lowering to a warning growl. The Black Paladin wasn't going to let Lance ramble his way out of the conversation. His stern expression softened when the younger paladin fell silent and staring at the ground in an abashed manner.

"Lance, please talk to me." Hunk heard Shiro say in a gentle voice, "I know both you and Keith have been acting very odd since you've been back. Neither of you have been sleeping well at all and during the exercise you sounded like you were in on the verge of a panic attack before Keith snapped you out of it."

"I was fine." Lance muttered quietly, still staring at the ground in a defiant manner.

"But you might have not been." Shiro placed a hand on Lance's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Lance, I understand what you're going through."

The blue paladin looked up at Shiro, blinking in shock. "Y…You do?"

Shiro gave Lance a warm, empathetic smile. "Of course, Lance. Look, I know what it's like being a prisoner for the Galra- I know how cruel they can be and how difficult it is to escape once they have you in their clutches. I can understand if you and Keith are still shaken over your experience being prisoners of Lotor. I'm sure it's not much of a secret that I'm still dealing with the aftermath of my stay with the Galra."

Shiro turned his head to the side and Hunk saw from his profile that there was a haunted look in his dark eyes. Hunk felt a pang of sympathy toward his leader- all of them hated to see Shiro suffer through his horrific flashbacks of his time as the bloodthirsty Champion.

Lance looked horrified at seen such a distraught expression on Shiro's face. "Hey, come on Shiro, you're doing a great job! Seriously, you spent a whole year being a Galra prisoner, escaped all by yourself, and became the leader of the coolest defenders the universe could ask for! I think you deserve more than you give yourself credit for."

Hunk managed to see a smile start to form on Shiro face as he turned back to look straight at Lance, his back in line with Hunk's vision once more.

"Thank you Lance." The Black Paladin said fondly. "As I saying before, if you and Keith are having any difficulties getting over whatever you had to go through as Lotor's prisoners, just let me know. I want to help you."

When Lance went back to staring dishearteningly at the ground in silence, Shiro took a cautious step forward, asking once more, "Is there anything you'd like to talk about, Lance?"

Lance glanced up at Shiro, his blue eyes wide, an earnest, almost hopeful expression slowly starting spread across his tan-skinned face.

"Shiro, I…" Lance began.

It was no secret to Hunk that Shiro had always been a hero to Lance. Hunk knew how much Lance respected Shiro- back at the Garrison, Lance had worked hard to follow in his beloved idol's footsteps to become a fighter pilot. And he knew that Lance's admiration for Shiro had only grown since becoming the paladins of Voltron, especially after Shiro had risked his own life to protect Lance during Sendak's capture of the Castle of the Lions. So Hunk knew without a doubt that if anyone could get Lance to reveal anything that was troubling him, then Shiro would.

"…I mean…Keith…Um…" Even with Shiro's encouraging face gazing upon him, Lance's words began to falter. After a quick pause, the young blue paladin took a deep, shuddering breath and then looked back up Shiro, speaking in a steady voice. "Everything's fine Shiro."

Seeing Shiro opening his mouth to argue, Lance hastily continued, "I mean, yes, you're right. Escaping from Lotor was…umm…a lot more difficult than I made it out to be earlier. A lot happened and…well…it…it was rough for a while, but me and Keith are okay. We're getting through it so don't worry. It's nothing the Red and Blue Paladin can't handle."

Shiro gave the russet-haired young man a long look. Hunk watched Lance fidget nervously under the Black Paladin's disapproving gaze. Finally, after a few tense heartbeats, Shiro let out a long sigh of resignation.

"Alright, Lance. If that's what you want. I'm having everyone take a break from training today. I want both you and Keith resting, is that clear?"

Lance replied with a tiny nod. "Yes, Shiro."

"Good. And Lance," Shiro placed a hand atop of Lance head, gently ruffling his soft, scruffy hair. "Please, come get me if you and Keith need anything. Remember, we're all a team. We're here to help each other."

With one last kind smile towards Lance, Shiro turned and leave, heading back to the dining room. Hunk hurried to make his way back towards the kitchens, not wanting the Black Paladin to catch him listening in on the conversation. But even as Hunk made to the kitchen, he found it impossible to push away the image of Lance's face out of his mind- it was hard to forget the horrible expression of guilt and remorse on his best friend's face as he had watched his leader and hero walk away.


End file.
